Humanoid robots took center stage at the Humanoids Summit in Mountain View, California, as investors and engineers debated when robots with humanlike bodies will become practical. Modar Alaoui, a venture capitalist and organiser of the event, said artificial intelligence’s recent surge has revived long-simmering ideas for humanoid machines that can move like humans and perform the tasks people do.
Alaoui said robots have long been seen as a bad bet for Silicon Valley investors because they have been “too complicated,” capital-intensive and, in one characterisation, “boring, honestly.” He said many researchers now believe humanoids—or some other form of physical embodiment of AI—“going to become the norm,” adding that, in his view, “The question is really just how long it will take.”
Alaoui said he gathered more than 2,000 people at the conference, including top robotics engineers from Disney and Google and dozens of startups, to showcase technology and discuss what it will take to accelerate a nascent industry. He framed the meeting as both a platform for demonstrations and a forum for questions about how quickly the technology can move from prototypes to real-world use.
Disney’s planned role, the report said, is a walking robotic version of the “Frozen” character Olaf that will roam on its own through Disneyland theme parks in Hong Kong and Paris in early next year. The summit also reflected the reality that robots with human elements are already being tested, while “general purpose” versions—meant to be productive in a workplace or in a household—remain a farther target.
Even with a conference designed to build enthusiasm for the technology, skepticism remained high, according to the report. Cosima du Pasquier, co-founder of Haptica Robotics, said the humanoid space has “a very, very big hill to climb,” and that “There’s a lot of research that still needs to be solved.” She came to the summit in Mountain View about a week after incorporating her startup and said, “The first customers are really the people here.”
The report also cited estimates from McKinsey & Company researchers that about 50 companies worldwide have raised at least $100 million to develop humanoids, led by about 20 in China and 15 in North America. McKinsey partner Ani Kelkar said China’s lead is influenced by government incentives for component production and robot adoption, and by a mandate last year “to have a humanoid ecosystem established by 2025.”
At the expo portion of the summit, held Thursday and Friday, the report said displays by Chinese firms dominated. It said Unitree-made humanoids were among the most prevalent at the event, partly because U.S. researchers buy a relatively cheap model to test their own software.
In the United States, the report said generative AI chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini have jolted the robotics industry in different ways, fueling investor excitement for startups aiming to bring a physical presence to newer AI systems. It said advances that helped language models improve also support robotics, particularly when “visual-language” models are paired with computer vision to help robots learn about their surroundings.
The summit’s reported skepticism included comments from Rodney Brooks, a robotics pioneer and co-founder of iRobot’s Roomba vacuum maker. The report said Brooks wrote in September that “today’s humanoid robots will not learn how to be dexterous” despite “hundreds of millions, or perhaps many billions of dollars” being donated by venture capitalists and major tech companies for training. Brooks did not attend the summit, but the report said his essay was frequently mentioned.
The report also noted that it did not hear from anyone speaking for Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s humanoid project, Optimus. It said Musk has described Optimus as “extremely capable” and said people can probably buy an Optimus “within three to five years.” The summit organiser Alaoui also pointed to parallels with earlier years of self-driving cars, reflecting the broader theme of long development cycles before real deployment.
Near the summit venue, the report said a Computer History Museum exhibit displayed Google’s bubble-shaped 2014 self-driving car prototype, and it noted that robotaxis operated by Waymo, a Google affiliate, were operating nearby 11 years later. It also described at least some workplace deployments already underway, including Oregon-based Agility Robotics bringing its tote-carrying warehouse robot Digit to a Texas distribution facility run by Mercado Libre, with Digit having inverted legs that are more birdlike than human.
Finally, the report said industrial robots performing single tasks are already commonplace in car assembly and other manufacturing, with speed and precision that can be difficult for today’s humanoids—or humans—to match. Jeff Burnstein, president of the Association for Advancing Automation, said after touring the expo that the U.S. has strong technology and AI expertise, but that it remains to be seen who will ultimately lead, adding that “right now, China has certainly a lot more momentum on humanoids.”